Assessment of Co-Sensitization between Pollen and Food Allergen Sources among Bengali Population, West Bengal, India

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Secondary food allergies due to cross-reactivity between pollen and food allergens are a significant health burden in India. Prevalence of cross-reactivity varies by region, and particularly in West Bengal, it remains unexplored. The present study investigated sensitivities of pollen-related food allergy (PFA) patients of West Bengal by empirically determining co-sensitization patterns. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The present study retrospectively analysed 1,310 pollen-allergic (PA) patients from the Allergy and Asthma Research Centre, West Bengal. A questionnaire survey was performed to record patients’ demographic and clinical features and categorized into seasonal and perennial ones. All patients were subjected to the skin prick test and specific IgE for evaluation of sensitivity against 16 pollen and 16 food allergens. Co-relation and principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to determine co-sensitivity. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Seasonal allergic patients were comparatively higher than perennial ones. PFA patients were mostly sensitive to eggplant (<i>n</i> = 387), while <i>Azadirachta indica</i> (<i>n</i> = 341) was predominant sensitizer among pollen allergen sources. <i>Cynodon dactylon</i> showed maximum significant positive correlation with banana, orange, peanut, pineapple, cucumber, eggplant, potato, tomato, and wheat. In the seasonal group, <i>Cynodon dactylon</i>-specific IgE in PFA patients (median = 4.60 kU/L) was significantly higher from that of PA ones (median = 3.44 kU/L). Among 32 allergens tested, 27 were placed in first two dimensions of the PCA biplot. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The present study established that co-sensitivity between pollen and food allergen sources were predominant in allergic patients of West Bengal. The co-sensitization patterns among unrelated allergen sources may be due to possible expression of biologic cross-reactivity to similar allergens.